The default setting of Ohio State's spread option offense has become: Give it to Braxton and see what happens.

The perils of being a “dual-threat quarterback” in an increasingly dangerous realm of major-college football have visited Braxton Miller weekly over the past month. He has been knocked out of each of Ohio State's last four games either briefly or for an extended period.

That's not keeping him out against Penn State. And he is as important a single component in a college football game as can be imagined. If he's right, it's a big advantage for the Buckeyes. If he's shaky or knocked out again, big advantage to the Nittany Lions. He's by far the most important player in this game. Maybe a little too important for his own health.

Braxton Miller lies injured after being flung to turf by Purdue defender on Saturday.AP/Jay LaPrete

Miller is practicing and is a firm go for the 5:30 kick against the Lions in Beaver Stadium. That development has once again pushed a Vegas line that's fluctuated like a yoyo.

Being a target game for bettors, OSU at PSU has been posted in some Nevada sportsbook locales for many weeks. A month ago it opened at Ohio State -3½ at the Hilton in Las Vegas. Even Friday, OSU generally remained a 2-point favorite.

But when Miller was knocked out late in the Purdue game on Saturday, had to be laboriously helped aboard a cart in apparent agony and then was briefly hospitalized, the line swung all the way to Penn State -2½ on Sunday.

Now that he's been green-lighted by OSU medical personnel and coach Urban Meyer, the number has swung back to between a pick and OSU -1.

Crazy fluctuation?

“Yes, and especially off an opening number,” said Vegas oddsmaker and Penn State grad Tony Sinisi, a consultant for pregame.com. “Two points one side, then two to the other? That gives the perception that one side should've been favored and then the public tells you very quickly: 'No.' That's the case.”

Betting lines are initially drawn up based on where oddsmakers think the median of wagering dollars will land, not necessarily on the score result. For many years, Sinisi was one of the Vegas wise guys who drew those opening lines.

He believes Miller on Saturday is one of the most dynamic forces in a single jersey in a particular game that he's seen:

“Going into this week, if I know Braxton Miller is playing, I can't make Penn State the favorite here.

“The thing is, I kinda like Penn State in this game. And I don't know what Miller's status is, whether he'll be 100 percent or not. But he is, without a doubt, the best player on the field, both sides.

“I remember reading a quote once of Al Davis talking about Joe Namath at Alabama. He said, 'When Namath came on the field, the field tilted.' To me, Miller is that player in this game.”

That's an Altoona native talking, a PSU grad with no dog in the fight and a lot of miles of handicapping behind him.

The question, then, is: In what sort of shape is Miller?

The 6-2, 210-pound sophomore from Dayton has essentially been the Ohio State offense. The Buckeyes' offensive line has been good enough. But the receivers and backs are ordinary, especially by OSU standards. Nobody scares you – except for Miller. His Pacman-like shifts and jukes are as slippery as any skill player in the nation. And so, the default setting of Meyer's spread option offense has become: Give it to Braxton and see what happens.

That's fine except that he becomes every defense's bull's eye in the open field. He has been hit late, as he was by tackle Kawann Short earlier in the Purdue game. He has been hit in the middle of a leap at Michigan State which caused him to hyperextend his knee. He has been rammed into an equipment truck at Indiana.

But none of those was as frightening as the slingshot tackle that Purdue corner Josh Johnson applied to Miller, bouncing his helmet and shoulder off the Ohio Stadium plastic. Though he was unable to walk on his own and appeared to be in great pain when led off the field and to an ambulance, his exam at an OSU hospital revealed no lasting effects, according to Meyer and school officials.

That diagnosis has struck some as hard to digest. Count me as not only skeptical but highly cynical of the way players are sometimes driven by coach/kings like Meyer.

The OSU leader said on Monday: “[Miller] made a comment to me that he'd never been hurt like that. ... I think it rattled him a little bit. Like it would anyone.”

And the coach has no plans on reining in his quarterback against PSU: “You let him be him. To make him a classic drop-back passer at this point, I don't know how efficient we would be.”

Efficient? Sounds clinical, like some sort of logistical engineer, doesn't it? Of course, it's not Meyer's body and brain being bounced around out there.